Nursing

AS AN RN with 30 years' experience including, but not limited to, med/surg and psychiatry, I would float. In the early years of my nursing career, floating was the name of the game until nursing became more specialized. I feel the exposure to different units enhances one's nursing experience and makes one more marketable.

Pamela J. Jefferson, BA, RN, Risk Management, Psychiatry, Med/Surg, CM
Bayview Center for Mental Health
Miami, FL

I AM A MEMBER of a float team that goes everywhere as needed to cover staffing shortages. The problem we run into is being pulled out of an assignment to go to another floor for four or eight hours, after we already have been on one floor for four hours. It's very difficult to switch gears every four hours.

I THINK HOSPITALS should offer a "float bonus" on new hires, just like other bonuses that are offered these days. If you're willing to float as needed, you get the bonus. If you're not willing to float, you won't have to, but agree to give up the bonus.

Sylvia Garza, RN
Citizens Medical Center
Victoria, TX

I WOULD BE willing to float if I could choose when and where. Having experience in different areas of a hospital is very valuable to the patient and hospital.

Lorrie Moser, RN
Woods Memorial Hospital
Etowah, TN

I ALWAYS LIKED to float to different areas of the hospitals and in long-term care. It allows you to experience and learn a variety of nursing skills. Floating to different buildings within the same company helps you see how a different building's culture changes nursing care. Floating or moving to different areas of nursing builds confidence and increases an awareness of all aspects of nursing. It helped me find my place in the nursing field. I am never bored and always find it helpful to network with the staff I have met at all the buildings where I have worked.

Kathleen Shipley, RN, BSN, MSPL
Mill Run Gardens and Care Center
Hilliard, OH

YES. THE UNKNOWN factor of floating when and where is most of the discomfort. I have worked in hospitals previously and would gladly float if I had a tiny bit of say in when and where.

Sarah Dugan, RN, ASN
Fort Irwin, CA

'FLOATING' IS COMMON in my facility, where we have a busy 24-bed Med-Tele Unit, 18-bed Surg/Pedi/Ortho Unit, 10-bed OB/Gyn, 10-bed newborn nursery, 8-bed ICU/CCU, 15-bed Geri-Psych Unit, and a busy ED. We all take turns floating, but I prefer to float to ICU or Post-Partum on the OB/Gyn unit. The Med-Tele and Surg/Pedi/Ortho units are on the same floor, and we often float from unit to unit. It's a fairly small hospital, the only one in town, and floating is just a part of life. It's not that we really like to float—we are all pretty territorial—but it's just a part of life at Natchitoches Regional Medical Center.

Gail Batson, RN, MSN
Natchitoches Regional Medical Center
Natchitoches, LA

I DID IT for 15 years and loved a different challenge every day, but I find most nurses hate to get pulled to other units.

Sheila Suhrstedt, RN
St. Agnes Hospital
Baltimore, MD

YES, BUT WE are not asked. We are told where we are going to float, and it might be in the middle of a shift.

Rita Joyner, RN
Wadley Regional Medical Center
Texarkana, TX

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